UK biotech Antisoma has received the first scheduled payment of $75 million from Novartis under a licensing agreement for its experimental cancer drug.
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The payment was triggered by completion of the licensing agreement following regulatory clearance from US authorities, the company said. The drug, ASA404 is a small-molecule vascular disrupting agent which targets the blood vessels that nourish tumors.
Antisoma recently released positive data from a phase II trial testing the addition of the compound to first-line docetaxel chemotherapy in hormone-refractory prostate cancer, and the drug has also demonstrated survival benefit in patients with non-small cell lung cancer when added to paclitaxel-based chemotherapy in a phase II study.
Worldwide rights to the drug were licensed to Novartis AG in April 2007.